Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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They claim that time waits for no man but I've just had a look at the past and it's still sat there, right where I left it, exactly 50 years ago.
But set in space!
Elsewhere, it's double trouble for the man without fear when the Masked Marauder breaks the Gladiator out of jail and the two villains agree to combine their mighty intellects.
And that's also trouble for Foggy Nelson because the boneheaded blunderers both think he's Daredevil!
Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four finally get to the Great Refuge and encounter the egomaniac menace that is Maximus the Mad. At which point, the Inhumans' introductory story stops making anything that resembles sense, but still remains historically awesome.
It's at this juncture that our hero decides to confront the ranting J Jonah Jameson and manages to give him a heart attack. Can it be true? Is Spider-Man really the menace JJJ always claimed he was?
In a scenario that'll feel very familiar to Iron Man fans, the commies give an agent a gadget-infested costume and send him off to America to slap the armoured Avenger around.
This time, it's the Unicorn who gets set that thankless task.
And, this time, it's the Unicorn who fails miserably.
But a moment of great import arrives in the annals of Thor when not only does he reacquaint himself with the lovely Sif but her abduction by trolls forces the thunder god into combat with Ulik, the one troll who just might be able to make mincemeat of him.
My memories of this week's Shang-Chi tale are vague but, from that cover, I'm going to assume Fu Manchu and his lackeys have abducted Denis Nayland Smith. I also assume they're going to blow him up.
I also have a feeling that feat will involve blowing up Mount Rushmore because that's where they're holding him prisoner.
I do believe the Avengers wrap up their battle with Diablo. Mostly, courtesy of Hercules defeating Dragon Man, and the villain possibly blowing himself up.
And, to finish off with, still on the hunt for Victoria Bentley, Dr Strange is stuck in the middle when Nebulos and the Living Tribunal clash over a big stick they both want.
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16 comments:
Moby Dick? If that's the Empire State Building's antenna the Hulk's on, it looks like King Kong!
Phillip
Doug Moench re-visited Mt. Rushmore about a year later in the memorably-titled “Up The Nose-Tube To Monkey Trash” in PLANET OF THE APES 14. I want to say dynamite was employed in the climax of that story as well, but it’s been forever since I last read it, so I could be totally wrong.
b.t.
Filming North By Northwest, near Mt Rushmore, violent scenes were to be avoided - so what the authorities would make of dynamite, I don't know! Then again, in Squadron Supreme # 8, Hyperion broke off one president's nose, and used it as a weapon! Squadron Supreme taking place in an alternate reality, in which Mt Rushmore's named "Presidents' Mountain", maybe such a desecration doesn't count!
Phillip
UK dudes - What is /was A-1 comics? Saw some chatter on FB site for Mighty World of British Comics and it looks interesting.
The Mighty World Of Marvel's new-look masthead was the one in place when I discovered Marvel UK.
Steve, it's also the 50th anniversary of the classic comedy series PORRIDGE - the first episode was broadcast on September 5th 1974.
Charlie, I've never heard of A-1 comics.
Charlie, A1 was a b&w 'prestige format' six issue anthology series - followed by a second (lesser) run of four - around the turn of the 80s into the early 90s.
The contents are listed here -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A1_(comics)
As you can see, the first six featured an impressive set of contributors that was 'state of the art' at the time. There's some really good stuff in it - perhaps predictably I really enjoyed the return of Alan Moore & Steve Parkhouse's Bojeffries Saga - but there was a bit of a 'coffee table' vibe about the package as a whole (sorry Matthew, if you're reading).
-sean
Steve-
I'm a big fan of that period of Doc Strange which appeared over here in Strange Tales. I discovered it years later in reprints.
The cosmic thrills and chills just kept comin', right after another. That comic was relentless. When did the Doc get any sleep? First Umar, then Zom, the Living Tribunal, Nebulos (Master of the Planets Perilous!) then again with the Tribunal. Mordo shows up somewhere.
Sheer cosmic weirdness, stunningly depicted by Marie Severin, Dan Adkins, and a couple writers I'm unfamiliar with (nom de plumes, puet-etre?)
I just reread that arc a while back. It's nuts!
What fun!
M.P.
Colin, that MWOM is the classic, with the Hulk lettering dominating.
Charlie, as Sean explained A1 was a solid anthology which featured most A grade UK creators of the time. It sometimes felt like Warrior 2.0 as it continued several features from that titles (Warpsmiths from Marvelman, Pressbutton, Bojeffries etc).
DW
Sean -
No, fair enough. But even so, most of it was pretty good ranging to very good.
The Dave Gibbons / Ted McKeever not-Superman story was killer, and it was nice to see the Warpsmiths rescued from oblivion. And, yeah, the Bojeffries.
DW, the new MWOM masthead should have made its' debut on the cover of #100 last week!
I liked A1 pretty well at the time. I think I may have sold most of them off during one of my periodic drastic downsizing culls though. I think I still have the first issue and the one with Bolland’s “The Actress and the Bishop” cover.
b.t.
USA dudes…. I was just walking down Main Street in my hometown here. A large truck just drove by, slowly, and Bolton on the side was “Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. “any of your dudes ever read the Menomonee Falls gazette? I seen a few And it was a weekly dedicated to collecting the newspaper strips.
ChArlie
Charlie, I think our UK brethren might even remember those Menomene Falls Gazette ads, they were pretty ubiquitous in the Marvel books for a spell, and pretty easy to spot as they often featured a full-color, full-figure image of Tarzan by Russ Manning.
I was curious but never did subscribe. I think I’ve seen copies for sale at various cons over the years but my interest in even opening their bags and taking a peek was pretty minimal by that time. How about you, Charlie, did you ever own a copy?
b.t.
70 years ago today, ROY (RACE) of the ROVERS premiered! Ironic that this weekend is the “international break?” Poor Roy…
BT- I did have some issues of MENOMENEE FALLS Gazette! I really enjoyed the newspaper comic strips. In fact, my beloved grandfather would save the daily Chicago tribune comic-strip page for me. And then, when we would visit, every 2-3 weeks, there would be a stack of pages waiting for me in chronological order!
Always was current with DICK TRACY, DONDI, ORPHAN ANNIE…. The TRIBUNE SYNDICATE was a ChArlie’s friend LOL!!!
But IIRC with Menomenee the issues did not have the complets story line as they were printed for a time leiod not story?
Menomenee reminds me of MWOM in UK… you would not get the entire story, necessarily, for an adventure strip in an issue. Kind of like MWOM gives you maybe six pages of a given comic book issue.
CH
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